UM survives scare vs. Boston College, advances to ACC semis

With the stress of the moment subsided, Miami players could cut loose.

Relaxing at their lockers, they inhaled mini pizzas grade-school style. They'd just survived their first encounter with March and relief was clear in their voices.

Blame Boston College for the tense moments preceding the pizza party. The 69-58 win over the eighth-seeded Eagles was, in fact, much closer than it appears. Miami, the ACC Tournament No. 1 seed, needed a late 8-0 run to break a 55-55 tie in the final 3:01.

Shane Larkin was Shane Larkin and the Miami defense eventually returned to form. The ACC player of the year runner up scored 15 of his 20 points after halftime, including three huge 3-pointers.

Reaching the conference semifinals for only the second time in its 10 ACC seasons, Miami (25-6) will face NC State at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Wolfpack (24-9) enjoyed a less-dramatic 75-56whipping of Virginia with a vast majority of the 22,169 attending wearing red.

A number of factors went into the closer-than-expected quarterfinal against a young Boston College team.

After dominating its way to a 23-11 lead 14 minutes in, Miami responded poorly to a defensive change. Out went the man-to-man and in came a zone.

"That kind of took us by surprise because they haven't played too much zone," Larkin said. "They just slowed us down. In the second half we had to come out and be really aggressive, and once we did that, everything started going our way."

Before that, the Hurricanes got passive and the Eagles (16-17) took advantage. Going 6:30 between baskets, Miami saw the 13-point lead turn into a 27-25 halftime deficit. Boston College scored 14 straight points as a foul-plagued Hurricane lineup dug deeper into its bench.

That and Olivier Hanlan woke up. A day after scoring a freshman record 41 to beat Georgia Tech, Hanlan managed just a single shot in the first 15 minutes. Larkin denied practically every possible look at the basket, but he got out in transition once the Eagles got rolling.

He had made 16 straight shots dating back to Thursday when he eyeballed a huge 3-pointer with 13:42 left. The Eagles were already up five and he couldn't miss. But, suddenly, he did. The shot got a lot of rim, but no net.

Miami then scored the next eight points and never trailed again.

Larkin had seven of the next 11 UM points including a 3-pointer from several feet behind the arc. Boston College would tie the game three more times, but never regained the advantage. Another Larkin 3-pointer off an out-of-bounds play gave the Hurricanes a 60-55 edge with 1:49 left and the game was practically over.

More importantly, Larkin and Scott knocked Hanlan off his rhythm. He made 8 of 10 3-point attempts Thursday, but took just three against UM and scored 14 points.

"In the scouting report, he likes to refuse the ball screens and we like to make him take those," Larkin said. "He did a good job of hedging and trapping on those.

Steals from Larkin and Brown in the final two minutes sealed the outcome as the pockets of Hurricane fans exhaled.

Kenny Kadji added 15 points as a post presence against a smaller Eagle lineup. Larkin cracked the 20-point barrier for the third time in five days by making 4 of 9 perimeter jumpers. Trey McKinney Jones chipped in 12 points in crucial moments as Miami shot 70 percent after halftime.

It's a battle that goes all the way back to their college days at the University of Miami — defensive end Olivier Vernon vs. left tackle Jason Fox. Now that matchup is taking place at the NFL level with the Dolphins, and there's much more at stake.

The next goal is to create meaningful moments for the Miami Heat, meaningful playoff moments, after his first season with the team produced only a lottery finish. But for Luol Deng, what transpired Saturday in South Africa made the start of the 2015-16 basketball cycle particularly meaningful.